In Sickness And Back Out
by HecateA
Summary: Fleur has more than one reason for sticking close to Bill after Greyback's attack. Written for Romance Awareness Day 25: You can take some of your soulmate's pain for yourself.


**Author's note: **Enjoy! Written for 31 Days of Soulmate AUs Day 25: You can take some of your soulmate's pain for yourself.

**Disclaimer: **The following characters belong to J.K. Rowling, and this story derives from her original works, storylines, and world. Please do not sue me, I can barely pay tuition.

**Warnings: **Recovering from an injury.

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_**Hogwarts Submitting Info**_

**House: **Ravenclaw

**Assignment: **Assignment #3, Care of Magical Creatures Task #3 Write about an attack

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**In Sickness And Back Out **

Sleep pricked her eyes but she refused to fall asleep, as she had for hours now. It paid off when Bill finally stirred in his infirmary bed. He moved too quickly and gasped in pain, which was followed quickly by a moan that broke her heart.

"Shh," she said, thankfulness swelling up from her chest and into her throat. "Bill, you're safe. You're at Hogwarts, in the infirmary. It's me."

"Of course it's you," he mumbled. His fingers twitched around the hand she held in something that may have been a squeeze.

Fleur breathed out a relieved sigh, which she tried to muffle behind her hand so that he wouldn't know how afraid he'd made her.

"You're okay," she said.

"What happened?" Bill asked.

"You were attacked by Greyback," Fleur said. "He didn't bite you, but there are claw marks…"

"I feel them," Bill said. "Oh, fuck…"

"Don't touch," Fleur said, taking his other hand to keep him from reaching up. She rubbed her thumbs in circles against his hands. "The risk of infection is high."

Bill's breathing was laboured.

"Madam Pomfrey isn't far," Fleur said. She swallowed hard, knowing that there wasn't much that the Healer would be able to do—no matter how competent. They had administered as much dittany for the pain as the could, and the injuries were already slathered in the only pommade that was strong enough to cover magical wounds of this type. Which didn't mean they were out of options, but… When Fleur had told Madam Pomfrey her idea, the matron had shaken her head and said, in a defeated voice, "he could use anything that can help."

Bill moaned and she clutched his hand tighter. His nails dug into her palms and she saw him dig his heels into his hospital bed as if he was bracing himself, too. She'd dared hope that the healing would help…

She put her hair up in a bun.

"Can you shift over?" Fleur asked quietly. Bill groaned, but he did manage it. Fleur crawled into bed with him, taking a second to consider how exactly she should position herself to avoid touching him where it hurt—his face, the left side of his chest, and his left arm… there was so much pain, she could feel it radiating off of him.

She closed her eyes and put a hand on his stomach.

"Take deep breaths," she said quietly.

"I'm trying," Bill said. "Is everyone okay?"

Fleur swallowed hard. "The person you need to worry about is you, Bill."

She felt his stomach rise and fall as he tried, but his breathing was laboured and shaky.

She closed her eyes and focused hard, reaching up to knot her other hand in his hair. She might have clenched it and pulled a bit when she started siphoning pain away from him and into her. She hadn't been sure how to activate this old magic; she had just hoped that it would kick in if she focused on Bill, focused on making him feel better, focused on making this attack dissaper…

"Fleur, don't," he said when he caught on to what she was doing.

"Just take a deep breath, I have got you now," Fleur said quietly.

"I don't want both of us to go feel—" Bill started.

"Shh," she said. "In three months, I am promising the world that I will be yours in sickness or in health, Bill Weasley. The third part of that vow is that I will always, always try to lessen your pain."

"I don't—"

"Shh," Fleur said again—mostly because she didn't trust herself to speak normally and hold a conversation as she continued tapping into this ability. She knew that any wince on her end would alarm Bill, and she needed him calm as she did it.

Soon, the hand on his stomach began rising and falling in rhythm with his breathing which was pleasantly returning to its normal course. Her own body was screeching in protest. The pain burrowed into her left hip and her face tingled, but Fleur could breathe through this shared pain. She took as much as she could before she thought it might blur her thoughts or stop her from being able to help.

"I don't deserve you," Bill mumbled.

"I shushed you earlier when you tried saying that," Fleur said. "I will shush you again if you keep this up."

"Am I the only one who got hurt?" Bill said. "Remus and Tonks okay? The students? The teachers?"

Fleur thought of her answer carefully. 'Dead' didn't quite count as 'hurt,' did it? She didn't have to tell him about Dumbledore right away. It wouldn't bring the old mage back to life and it would do more harm than good to Bill right now.

"Remus and Tonks are more than okay," Fleur said. "I think she might finally have talked sense into him."

"And I missed it?" Bill said.

"You helped, in a way," Fleur said. "I should warn you that I also snapped at your mother."

"I missed that too?" Bill muttered. Fleur smiled.

"I do not think she is as angry as I thought she would be," Fleur said. "She was here earlier, and your father. They went home to sleep a little bit and attend to… to Order matters. They told me to send word when you woke up, but I wanted to do…" she winced. "To do what I could for you first."

Bill made a sleepy noise of approval.

"I'm going to crash again," he warned her.

"That's okay," Fleur said. She felt her own eyelids getting heavier as the pain took a toll on her body. "Try to get some sleep. It should be restful now."

"Remind me to return the favour when we have kids," Bill muttered.

Fleur laughed and buried her nose in his chest.

"What are soulmates for?" she asked.

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**Stacked with: **MC4A; Shipping War; Hogwarts; Not Commonwealth; Ray of Blades

**Individual Challenge(s): **Hola, Bonjour, Jambo; Gryffindor MC; Beauxbatons MC; Seeds; Golden Times; Old Shoes; Themes & Things A (Love); Themes & Things B (Joy); Rian-Russo Inversion; In a Flash

**Representation(s):** Veela Fleur

**Bonus challenge(s):** In the Trench; Second Verse (Persistence Still); Chorus (Creature Feature)

**Tertiary bonus challenge: **NA

**Word Count: **980

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_**Shipping Wars**_

**Ship (Team): **Fleur Delacour/Bill Weasley (Winged Wolf)

**List (Prompt): **Spring Big List (Cuddling)


End file.
